By 2020, there will be more than 3.1 billion mobile subscribers in Asia Pacific. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

$100 million

What is it? The corpus of the venture fund floated by Infosys Ltd co-founder Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal, a venture capitalist and Helion Venture founder.

Why is it important? The fund would strengthen the prospects for later-stage funding, when start-ups need more capital to scale up, mostly in the form of Series B and C funding. Both Series B (a decline of 16% in the first quarter of 2017) and Series C (five companies received such funds in the first half of 2017) funding saw fewer deals in 2017.

Tell me more: Called The Fundamentum Partnership, the fund will invest in 10-15 mid-stage start-ups specialising in consumer technology.

22

What is it? The number of states and Union Territories that have abolished check posts collecting border commercial tax, after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 July.

Why is it important? This will result in faster movement of goods and also reduce cost of compliance, as paperwork at the border check post is a time-consuming process. Even before GST, states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal had done away with border check posts.

Tell me more: Eight more states are in the process of abolishing the border check posts, as GST tries to realise the ‘one nation, one tax’ goal. While a World Bank report in 2005 had put the cost of truck delays at check posts at upto Rs2,300 crore, an Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta study in 2016 estimated a $6.6 billion loss from transportation delays including holdups at check posts.

50.9

What is it? The index of the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, a private survey.

Why is it important? The value is at a four-month low. Growth in new orders slowed, dragging down the index. Challenges such as water shortages and the imminent implementation of GST hampered growth as well.

Why is it important? The two countries are forecast to add 361 million new subscribers by then, according to the Mobile Economy Asia Pacific 2017 report by GSMA Intelligence.

Tell me more: More than half the world’s mobile subscribers (2.7 billion) live in the Asia Pacific, and India and China account for two-third of them. By 2020, this will go up to three-quarters of the world’s population or more than 3.1 billion mobile subscribers in Asia Pacific.